New Zealand Climate Science Coalition

New Zealand Climate Science Coalition (NZCSC)

Background

The New Zealand Climate Science Coalition was launched in May 2006[1], consisting of a group of individuals “who are concerned at the misleading information being disseminated about climate change and so-called anthropogenic (man-made) global warming.” [1]

Stance on Climate Change

The group was founded with the aim of “refuting what it believes are unfounded claims about anthropogenic (man-made) global warming.”

“The climate is always changing and the nation may well benefit from moderate global warming. Having said that, temperature records indicate that New Zealand has not warmed significantly in the last fifty years.” [2]

Bryan Leyland claimed that the New Zealand Meteorological Service had shown no warming during the past century but NIWA had adjusted its records to show a warming trend of 1 degree Celsius.

NZCSC asked the High Court to invalidate its official temperature record, to prevent it using the temperature record when advising Government, and to require the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research to produce a “full and accurate” temperature record. [4], [5]

July 2008

NZCSC issued a press release stating that the premise that “the globe is warming” was “a lie.”

The release described the Royal Society of New Zealand's statement on climate change as “an orchestrated litany of lies.” [6]

March 2008

The New Zealand Listener reported[13] that Owen McShane and Bryan Leyland of NZCSC were lobbying journalists to cover their questioning of climate change science in order to create an illusion of greater disagreement over the science than actually exists. [7]

The Coalition called on the New Zealand government to institute a Royal Commission on climate change because the public were “being given incomplete, inaccurate and biased information about the effects of increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere” when “global warming caused by man-made emissions of greenhouse gases … cannot be substantiated.” [9]

The Government refused on the grounds that the majority of climate scientists in the world agree that there is no longer any doubt that climate is changing due to human activity. [10]

May 14, 2006

The New Zealand Climate Science Coalition's website, nzclimatescience.net, was first registered[14] on May 14, 2006. [11]

Co-founder Owen McShane gave this statement to press before going public with the website:

“Those of us involved in forming this coalition believe that now is the time for individual countries like New Zealand to assemble their own national expert panels, so that these panels can form larger groupings with like minded-panels from other countries so as to be ready to deal with the reports to be published by the IPCC next year. Their aim should not be to repeat, or parallel, the work of the IPCC, but to audit its reports, and to let the members of the IPCC know that such auditors are waiting in the wings.” [12]